


Three Words

by Lion_owl



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Episode: s03e02 The Search Part II, M/M, Sisko's POV, death mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-04-14 01:23:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14125083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lion_owl/pseuds/Lion_owl
Summary: Sisko accidentally overhears a private moment between Bashir and a dying Garak





	Three Words

"I love you"

The words were still ringing in Ben's ears. It had been a weird day: he'd thought they had lost Jadzia and Chief O'Brien to the Dominion, only to find them alive and well and coming to _his_  rescue; he'd found himself standing helplessly as the Federation handed themselves over willingly, and then he'd found himself in agreement with _Garak_ , of all people.

He thought he'd seen it all. But that was not the crux of it — no. They'd been running through the corridors of the docking ring when it had happened, he had been still reeling from the thought of what they were about to do, his heart pounding in his chest, his pulse racing.

Constable Odo and Major Kira were still lost in the Gamma Quadrant, but he believed they would both support him in his decision to collapse the wormhole's entrance regardless of their own fate; he was sure neither of them wanted to see Bajor fall to the Dominion, especially so soon after their liberation from the Cardassian occupation.

He would do what had to be done.

"Garak — Garak!" Bashir's voice, full of anguish, resonated throughout the corridor, and Ben turned around to see Garak on slumped against the wall, Bashir's hands gripping his shoulders.

Garak says something which Ben can't hear from his distance, before his body crumples, his life stolen from him. Bashir is transfixed, evidently unable or unwilling to leave Garak's side; Ben realised he may need to encourage him, and returned to his side, to hear Bashir muttering to his friend's lifeless body:

"You can't die," he whispered. "Elim, I love you."

For a moment, Ben can't move either, frozen by what he has just heard, a moment he should not have been privy to; but they have a mission to complete, so he quickly snapped himself back into Starfleet Officer mode, and grabbed Bashir's upper arm with a gentle urging of "come on, we have to go."

 

**Author's Note:**

> I actually wrote this in a hurry on my phone notepad and posted screencaps  [to tumblr](https://lionowlonao3.tumblr.com/post/158415714496/i-just-wrote-it-because-why-not-its-in-first) a year ago. I never posted it to ao3 because I was going to incorporate it into a longer post-The Search fic I was planning, but I don't know if I will write that now, so here this is. Lightly redrafted. I wanted a copy on ao3 because I don't trust tumblr


End file.
